


The Cabal Papers

by CynaraM



Category: Johannes Cabal - Jonathan L. Howard
Genre: Angst, Canon Era, Correspondence, Don't come looking for me Johannes, Epistolary, Gen, Humor, Pre-Canon, Shorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 08:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2342174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CynaraM/pseuds/CynaraM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of badly damaged family papers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cabal Papers

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot be stopped. I keep running out of Cabal material to read and having to write more.

This collection of partially burned and water-stained family papers was recently sold at a country auction. They were in the same lot as a chessboard, also damaged by water, a mismatched chess set, and a bent retort stand. Given the highly personal nature of some of the papers it is possible they were discarded accidentally with other fire-damaged items or simply believed to be illegible. 

Any errors in the texts are the result of my transcription, the translation, or the poor state of the letters. Attempted reconstructions and editor’s notes are in square brackets.

 

***  
[translated from German]

My little gentlemen;

My business is proceeding well, and I hope to start for home tomorrow. I see Cambridge this afternoon; perhaps I will visit both my tall sons there some day.

Horst, you must be patient with Johannes; he is only a little boy and you are a young gentleman now. Include him in your games, there's a good fellow. My Johannes, maybe you could ask home a friend from school, or invite one of the neighbours’ boys?

Kiss your mama for me, and don't trouble her with fighting.

With love,  
Papa

 

***  
[translated from German]

Dear mother;  
Thank you for the dictionary. It is very helpful. I am [looking up?…] 

[burned]

When I come home, can we play experiments? Do we have any strong acid? I will be very careful if we can have some. Last time was an [accident?…]

[burned]

I would like to come home soon. BEFORE HORST if I may. I miss you and I love you very much.

Love,  
Johannes  
XOXOX

 

***

 

Lieber beakface;

This is writing-to-the-family period, and I thought I’d honour you with an epistle. I’m playing rugby for the school this year, which ought to make Vater happy. I suppose he’d be happier if you scrubbed out the last of your accent and I married the Princess Royal, but he’ll have to take what he can get. Have you gone hunting with him lately? That would smooth him down.

Mother says you’re raising hell at school. I know it's tempting, but keep your head down; it’s not that long until you’re out, really. In the meantime, punching your (actually awfully punchable) classmates and raising a row over Prayers isn’t going to make it go any faster. 

Loving embraces from your brother,  
mit herzlichen Grüßen, 

Horst

 

***

 

[translated from German & a simple encryption]

16th May

Thank god the school year is almost over. I am going to die of boredom. Father sighs and mother pushes and Horst sends condescending letters from school. 

Time to go watch the stars. The city lights and the smoke make it impossible to see half the astral bodies I’m trying to locate. God knows why we came. Mother hates it too.

 

***

 

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Cabal;

I thought a letter was in order to accompany Johannes’ school results. I am happy to meet with you, but I understand you will be travelling soon, and this letter will follow you if need be.

Your younger son is, as you know, an extraordinarily intelligent boy. He has learned English with astonishing rapidity. I should mention that we can recommend an excellent elocution teacher; given his youth, within a year or so he would speak like a native-born English lad, which you will agree would be desirable for his future prospects.

With his teachers he is, perhaps, in his brother’s shadow. Horst's more modest academic achievements were accompanied by his charm and a sunny disposition. Now that Cabal Major has graduated, I hope Cabal Minor - now just Cabal - will have a chance to shine. He applies himself to mathematics and sciences with the seriousness of a boy many years older. His reading and writing are also well above the rest of his form. 

His lack of application to penmanship, English history, religion, and geography are therefore met with less indulgence than the struggles of a unpromising student. His other teachers and I believe this springs from disinclination rather than incapacity. He must learn that these subjects have been set in the curriculum by older and wiser men who know what is best for boys.

Additionally he absolutely must show more patience with the other children. As a foreigner he was the object of some teasing, and while I have rarely seen a boy less disturbed by it, his retaliations were rather merciless; you will recall the incident with the beef heart and the Whitleys. I must say that the teasing has tapered off rapidly in its wake.

Please know that I have a personal liking for Johannes. He has a strong personality, great gifts, and he is essentially, I believe, a decent and moral boy. I would like to see him pursue his abilities into medicine, perhaps, or academia. In twenty years the faculty who now sigh heavily at his name may boast of the days when he threw inkwells at them and contradicted their lectures with absolute self-assurance.

sincerely yours,

Miss McCuen

 

***

 

Dear father;

I envy you the trip home to Hessen. Yes, you will remind me that England is home now, but I often think of the old house and our friends there. 

[water-stained and illegible]

[…I am?] continuing to consider the advantages of a career in law, as you requested. I am simply not convinced that I am suited to it. Horst would, I think, be a better barrister than I, not to mention looking better in legal robes. I wish you would see how better-made I am for a doctor or scientist. Medicine is more respected than it was, particularly consulting medicine.

Please give over lecturing me about Horst. I do not wish to give you and mother pain, but it cannot be changed now.

I am also looking forward to the hunting season […]

[illegible]

 

***

 

Horst;

Mother instructs me to thank you for the _Recherches Sur Les Principaux Problemes..._ you sent for my birthday. She says you must have written to London for it, and I suppose you did. I suppose you want another gaudy cravat? 

No thank you for the insinuations about me and our new neighbour. What the hell do you know about it, anyway? You were here for a bare two days. She likes chemistry, and she wants to study it in university. I'm going to lend her the _Principaux Problemes_ , as she's curious about astronomy, too. Shut up.

Pawn to queen’s 3rd.

Johannes

 

***

 

My darling Hessian;

I'm going to be stuck here until Tuesday, and I'm not sure how I'm going to survive it. I told my aunt I wanted to study sciences, and she looked at me as if I had two heads. I didn't tell her about the dissection; she would probably pronounce it diss-sex-ion and think it was some immoral American social practice.

My little cousin caught a glimpse of your last letter to me (just the envelope), and pestered me for a description of you. She wore me down this morning. "He's tall and fair, with Roman features and blue-grey eyes. He has a dreadful temper, but he's lovely to me and to his parents. We go dancing, and we play chess and talk about books. He likes science too. He speaks German and knows how to fence, but he doesn't have those gristly duelling scars. He's serious, but I think his smile is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I fell in love with him when I saw him laugh. He wants to be a doctor, and do medical research."

I think I managed a good likeness. She, by the way, is now determined to marry you, so I'd better get my hooks into you soon. You'll meet her before long, and I don't want to be cut out.

Must run. Tea time, gawd-help-me. I miss you hideously. I'm picturing you scowling at Horst, and I miss you. I'm picturing you with your grimmest look at school, and I miss you. Dream of me; I dream of you, Johannes.

_Deine Verlobte_

You know, some day you'll have to teach me to say that properly, and no doubt I have the gender wrong. I wish I had your gift for tongues.

 

***

 

Beloved;

Tell me everything about the school. Did you meet any professors? Where would you live? Is your aunt's house close enough, or would your parents let you live on the campus? McKinley is teaching there now, and I found his most recent article, if you want to see it. I hate the thought of being apart even for the terms, but I will be leaving for university too, soon.

I am alarmed by your news of your cousin. She will bring a legal action for misrepresentation when she sees me, and I won’t be able to defend you in court. Father is still hinting about Hinks & Hinks; he says they will need fresh blood in a few years, which makes them sound like vampires. In any case, my blood (and the rest of me) is yours. I trust you will keep it safe from Mr. Hinks.

Horst is back from school and grins at me whenever he catches me writing to you. He's utterly obnoxious, but at least he gives you your due. Apparently I have become "nearly bearable" under your influence. Idiot. I can’t even hate him these days, and it’s your fault.

No, I can’t keep this up. Come home, _Sonnenblümchen_. This separation is agony. Of course I dream of you; when do I do anything else? Come back, _Engländerin_ , and gentle your rude _Boche_ before I grow too unbearable again.

your Johannes

 

***  
***

 

[translated from German]

Dear Gottfried;

We are so terribly sorry to hear about your family’s loss: such a tragic accident, a cruel thing, and such a sad end to your and Liese’s hopes. I understand that Johannes is inconsolable. 

When the first grief is over, perhaps he could travel? Or send him back to your dear friends in Hessen, where we will entertain him and busy him. 

Our love and condolences to you all and of course Johannes in particular.

Frieda Huber

 

***

 

Dear sirs;

I am writing to correct the misapprehension in your letter of the fourteenth. I do not wish a place to be held for me in next year’s undergraduate class. I do not plan to pursue the study of law. Please do not be persuaded otherwise by any members of my family.

sincerely,  
J. Cabal

 

***

 

My dear brother;

Of course I’ll travel with you - my plans can easily wait, and I’m so very glad you’ve asked. Mother is relieved. She think the change of scene will be good for you, and so do I. You know this has just been her way of expressing her worry - she doesn’t want you to make any hasty decisions. We know your loss was extreme. Let us help, Johannes. You and I have been at odds too much.

We shall have a good year on the continent. I promise I won’t run off after girls - it’ll just be the two of us. Studying and travelling and seeing new sights and new places, and I’ll help you with whatever new project you have underway. We can visit the old town in Hessen, too. We will come back from it new men. 

your loving brother,  
Horst

 

***

 

Madam;  
I have the regrettable duty of telling you that Horst has gone missing. We were staying in —— hire, investigating the local historical landmarks, and he elected to go out for the evening while I stayed at our lodgings and read. I was not suspicious until the next afternoon.  
Further enquiries suggested that he had gone for a walk alone, upon which he disappeared. The police have been unable to find any information, but I fear he has met with some harm. Please leave the investigation in my hands. I will not return home for some time, but I will write you as often as I may. I am sorry, mother.

Johannes

 

***

 

[singed]

[...] it seems my best chance. I am hoping to find some word of my uncle, Dr. Karol Anders, with whom you may have travelled on a sub-marine expedition to ruins off the coast of Ponape. He mentioned your name as a possible companion, and we are most anxious to learn what has become of him. 

The officials have been able to tell us nothing, and if I cannot find word of him alive my aunt might be persuaded to start the lengthy procedure of having him declared dead. Any assistance you can give us towards either of these goals would be appreciated.

yr. vry. obdt. servant

[singed]

 

***

 

Dear Sirs;  
I understand that your firm currently holds in trust the library of Sir Charles Vertiss. If Lacroix's Demonologie were to find its way into the safe deposit box at the enclosed address, I can assure you that your dealings with the Archbishop of Armagh and his cohorts will remain private.  
As good and sober guardians, you may also agree that the interests of Sir Charles’ descendants may be most truly served by their never opening the Demonologie.  
sincerely yours,  
An interested party

 

***

 

Dear Mr. Schmitt;  
In response to your letter of December the fifteenth, I am pleased to tell you that our library does, in fact, have in its collections the Greater Key of Lucifer and the pamphlet Soul-Dealings in East Anglia, 1500 - 1650. Sadly, the extreme fragility of the latter document means we cannot take it out of our new Thompson vault, but we would be happy to make the former book available to you after our reopening in the New Year.  
Scholar’s visiting hours take place on alternate Tuesdays between the hours of one and three p.m.  
sincerely yours,  
Mr. Davies  
Chief Librarian of the Lansquenet Collection of Rare Books

 

***

 

April 29th 

Mr. Barnes;

Please suspend all deliveries for the foreseeable future. I am leaving on business, and my return date is undecided. I have made arrangements for my post to be held in the village. 

There will be no need for anyone to check on the house; I am perfectly satisfied with the security I have left in place. Please reassure anyone considering a visit.

J. Cabal


End file.
